New Vista. The plugs are upside down not the sockets.

A good pair of Lindstroms indeed. Way back in '82 upon joining Telecom Australia I was issued a pair as part of my tool kit. A colleague grabbed them from my tool box and proceeded to cut away at a steel strap used to tie down a pallet of batteries.

Despite my protests he cut away, nibbling small cuts at a time until the strap snapped open. I expected that was the end of the Lindstrom side cutters. To my delight they were unaffected. I was told the steel they are made from is the same steel used in Swedish submarine hulls.

I've never had confirmation of that story but it would not surprise me. They are still with me, best side cutters ever.

Conclusion: There is muck metal, there is steel, and there is superior steel.

The earth pin in Australia must be at the bottom so it is theoretically the last pin to lose contact if the plug comes out of the socket. I am not sure why China faced them the other way, though I suppose the Poms do the same thing with their sockets. Earth is at the top.

They should hold a debate between Aust & China regulators to see who's right

I doubt the CCP would have any, given some of the junk they send here referred to as electrical appliances.Chinese skyscrapers are sometimes referred to as Tofu Towers. The electrical systems are as bad as the footings - trust me on that one.

Brad the chinese plugs are correct, the cord is sideways but heading up instead of down. The earth , active and neutral are exactly the same as the Australian ones. I have a few in my home and find them ok.

I don't mean the plugs, but the sockets. They mount their GPOs upside down. That would not be legal here. If a GPO needs to be mounted on its side here, a vertical version must be used.

The thing I find annoying with side entry plugs is when you want a lot of them on a power board or similar. The cables tend to interfere with their neighbours, necessitating having to reorganise them, or just not being able to use all the outlets.

BBV, I havehad a "Berg" brand side cutter since I was a little boy.
It is made out of the same stuff, you can cut through a steel bolt and the jaws are unaffected.
What size rod you can cut through depends on how strong you are!
It is stamped "piano wire" grade.
Do that to any side cutter now and you have semicircles in the jaws!
Fred.

Yes indeed Fred, another good report of 'real steel'. No hope of buying anything near the same standard today.
Even haunting the trash & treasure stalls now it's obvious 'old steel' tools are rare to find. (grab them if you see any, they are treasure)

I wonder how the fictional "green steel" will compare if or when they work out how to make such a mythical compound without coke?
One steel manufacturer has recently reported "green steel" is at least ten years away. That says it all.

Chinese junk

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-17/faulty-chinese-aluminium-navy-boat-delays/100708910

We probably need a thread just to discuss rubbish from China.

Robbbert, this is a sobering report.

We have massive bauxite reserves. These reserves are the worlds largest. We have four smelters which supply the export market.

Our bauxite is high grade (probably the best)

I would like to think then, anybody reading this conversation would question why we are importing inferior crap from a potential enemy????

And to build our warships with????????????????

https://aluminium.org.au/australian-bauxite/

In a workshop I worked in (about 100 years ago) ALL the wall GPO's were mounted upside down.
Fascinated I asked the foreman, 'why is it so?'
Answer was the obvious 'so when the plug is pulled down half out the juice still flows'.
Makes sense but dont worry about safety!
It was an electrical workshop installed to SAA wiring rules!!
Would not quite pass QA today.
Fred.

It is amazing as to what goes on when some ones not looking. Ina house we bought which was being built while they lived in it, before bankruptcy it was amazing as to what went on & I and and an electrician when through the place before we moved in to get things safe. A four burner set of hotplates was first out of the door and it is the first time I had seen a fuse wedge burnt.

That fuse box got the flick as well when the HW cylinder was replaced. There were errors inside it that could have caused a fire & no one including AusNet guys, were at all impressed. Rather made it a worthwhile exercise.

Doing a bit of Tag & Test it is incredible what gets donated from Dad's shed. I often wonder what dad died from. I would say that about 10% minimum was neither saleable, or safe, electrically or mechanically. Extension cables are not the bulk but the reject rate is similar. Cuts, crossed wires & damaged line plug tops & sockets tend to prevail albeit one was a recycled vacuum cleaner cord with no ground wire.

In many cases its cheaper to by new cables, rather than bother to test or fix them & they are chopped up for scrap.

From my experience in Industrial OH&S many seem to leave safety at the factory gate as they leave.

Google: "why hospital outlet upside-down"

I guess the answer they give wouldn't apply to Oz where insulating sleeves now mandated for hot blades.